10 Most Sympathetic Movie Kidnappers And Hostage Takers
9. The Wild Bunch (1969)
"If they move, kill em!" Thats the command barked by veteran outlaw Pike Bishop (William Holden), as his gang of armed bandits - inspired by the numerous wild bunches of the Old West - prepares to take a bank in a Texan frontier town. It was the opening of Sam Peckinpahs Western tour de force and it was a game-changer. The feral crew themselves have to carry our sympathies through the film; at the outset theyre dressed as soldiers and speak politely to an old lady before the raid, muddying the clear waters that used to separate good guys and bad guys. "They were people who lived not only by violence, but for it," said Peckinpah of the late 19th-century outlaws. "And the whole underside of our society has always been violence - it will be and still is." The violence that ensues - as bounty hunters opens fire on the gang theyve ready-eyed, hitting a Temperance Society parade down the middle of the street - is chaotic and indiscriminate. Its also beautifully choreographed, the first of Bloody Sams ballets of bullets where each one that hits home is photographed in lovingly bloody slow motion. But whats more disturbing is the amorality of the characters: neither the Wild Bunch nor their pursuers set out to kill civilians, but they dont blanch at whats only an occupational hazard. Grizzled gang leader Pike is cold enough to leave the obviously disturbed Crazy Lee in charge of the three captives at the bank, including the cashier. Unstable, rapacious (check his lechery with the petticoated lady), but like an overgrown child, Lee is the kind of gang member who should never be left in charge of civilians - but very often is. "Feathers flyin like a turkey," he mutters to himself after shooting down their escape attempt at point-blank range. "Well, they shouldnt have run..." Crazy Lee, like all of the Wild Bunch, sees whats right only in terms of whats expedient at the time. Just like his gangs leader, Pike, who knows that, whatever carnage he might have inflicted inside the bank, it was less dangerous than relying on Lee in their flight for survival outside.
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